Storage battery charging station for electric vehicles

ABSTRACT

A large number of vehicular batteries are charged while riding on gondolas, which go upon down and around in a space-saving tall tower. Charging electricity is distributed along the path of Gondola carriages. One or more recharged batteries are removed from the Gondolas which become ready to accept spent batteries, The gondola can be enlarged to accommodate even a battery-loaded vehicle.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This is a division of prior application Ser. No. 08/222,906, filed onApr. 5, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,995, for a BATTERY CHARGINGSTATION.

This invention relates to the charging of batteries, and moreparticularly to a roadside station at which point spent driving powersources of electric vehicles are continuingly recharged and held readyfor re-use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The driving power source for electric vehicles consists of accumulatorbattery in plural units. The battery is manufactured in such a way as topermit a manual handling of it as a unitary power pack. The batteryoccupies a substantial part of the total vehicular weight and bulk. Alsobattery capacity determines the driving range of an electric vehicle andin recharging run-down batteries, it becomes obligatory that the vehiclebe hooked up with stationary outlets of electricity, rendering thevehicle useless for the duration of the recharge operation which onaverage lasts several hours. Rapid recharge systems represent an effortto reduce this binding time and would restore charge capacity in theorder of several ten minutes up to a ceiling yet limited to about 60percent of the full battery capacity such system requires extremely highvoltage and high with resultant hazards and shortened battery-life.Battery swapping systems, also in recent study, suffer from the lack ofsupport procedures such as how to efficiently recycle swapped batteries.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention then is to provide a chargingapparatus for a battery, either singularly or severally, as in a powerpack or otherwise, off- or on-board a vehicle alike.

It is another object of this invention to provide a storage capable ofholding a multiplicity of charged batteries ready for delivery ondemand.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a space-savingroadside station in which both the charge and store operations arecarried out concurrently.

These objects are addressed by the present invention which provides anovel battery charge-while-in-store apparatus comprising a verticallink-chain conveyor means, gondola carriages, electricity distributingmeans disposed alongside the conveyor means, and a hollow tower whichsupports and houses them all. Batteries are placed on the gondola whichis suspended from a rod transversely held by and over a pair of saidconveyors. Through the ends of the rods keeping contact with thedistributor, a charging electricity is continuingly supplied to a largenumber of batteries.

Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description when taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of acharge-while-in-store apparatus constructed in accordance with theinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of batteries under charge togetherwith parts relating to the charging circuit.

FIG. 3 illustrates a modification of the electrical contacts marked 12ain FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 illustrates a modification of the distributors marked 9a and 9bin FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in FIG. 1 illustrating a schematic cross-sectional view, a pairof vertically disposed parallel link-chains 5 are carried by matchingpairs of sprockets 3 and 4. Opposing link-chains 5 are tied to eachother from place to place by transversely disposed hollow rods 6 whichare supported through bearing attachments 7 firmly held by member links.From the rods 6, suspended one each, are frame-formed gondolas 8, andsuch a gondola carriage is known as able to maintain its load batteries15 at an even level while in a rotary motion.

A pair of distributors 9a and 9b (not shown) made of an electricityconducive material into continuous rings of the shape identical with thetrack traced by the rod 8 is placed outwardly adjacent to the pair oflink-chains 5. Power lines (not shown) brought in to a tower house 1 areused to energize said distributors 9a and 9b which transform to an anodeand a cathode respectively, and as many charging circuits as there areconnected batteries 15 on the gondolas 8.are closed through the ends ofthe rods which are protruding and held in a constant contact with saiddistributors 9a and 9b, thereby permitting a continuing charge operationirrespective of the location or motion of the batteries 15.

The tower house 1 also houses a conventional driving mechanism (notshown) for the sprockets 3 or 4. The tower house 1 is equipped withsolar panels 16 and at a top with a collector unit 19, in which gasesand heat exuded by the battery charge operations are collected andrecycled. Located at the ground. level is a door 17 through which thebatteries 15 are loaded or enloaded. The tower house 1 can be built upfrom an underground space 18, utilizing for instance a cave which willbe left behind by excavated gasoline tanks of the Gasoline stationsabandoned for environmental reasons, to as tall a height as appropriate,thus providing an efficient storage for a large number of chargedbatteries ready to be delivered to the user.

Referring to FIG. 2 that shows a detailed view of the parts involved inclosing a charge circuit, an outside power line is split and attached tothe distributors 9a and 9b at points 11a and 11b respectively.Electricity led by a tensioned contact point 12a which maintains aconstant contact with a contact surface 10a is directed through a leadline 13a running within the rod 6 to a battery terminal 14a. From theopposite last terminal and through the reverse path, electricity reachesat the distributor 9b. The link-chains 5 are of a dual member type andthe bearing attachment 7 rotably supports the rod 6.

It will be appreciated that although only the batteries 15 areillustrated for the sake of simplicity, the gondola 8 may be designed toreceive a power pack of batteries (as described in Japanese PatentApplication 5-166909 filed on Jul. 6, 1993), an electricity supply uniton wheels (as described in Japanese Patent Application 5-221929 filed onSep. 7, 1993) or even a battery run-down electric vehicle.

FIG. 3 shows a modification of the tensioned contact point 12a of FIG.2, providing a pantagraph 12c.

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the pair of opposedly disposed ringdistributors 9a and 9b of FIG. 2, providing a straight rail 20 in whichplank-distributors 9c and 9d sandwich an insulator 21. Electricity ledby a roller contact 12e is directed through a male plug 14c and back toa roller contact 12f. This modification disrupts a continuous chargingduring lateral movements of the gondolas 8 shown in FIG. 1.

Since the batteries brought in are at various stages of need, rechargeoperations are individually or centrally controlled as to timing orprotection against overcharging by devices available in the market.Another modification (not shown) then provides a number of pointdistributors disposed to come into contact with the correspondingcontact points 12a of FIG. 2 or with any other means provided on saidcarriages 8 at the time that the link-chains 5 stand stationary asduring the load-unload operations of batteries through the door 17.

Having described but a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will beappreciated that variations can be made thereto without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An assembly for storing and recharging batteriescomprising:a plurality of carriages having respective support surfacesof a configuration to each support a battery; conveyor means connectedto the carriages to translate the carriages across a predetermined pathof travel during storage; connector means provided on each of thecarriages for electrically connecting the batteries to recharge them;power means for providing a source of electricity to said connectormeans as the conveyor means translates the carriages during storage; andmeans for collecting and processing any gases and heat produced duringthe recharging of the batteries.
 2. The assembly as defined in claim 1wherein the power means includes a pair of distributors extending alongthe predetermined path of travel.
 3. The assembly as defined in claim 1wherein the conveyor means rotates the carriages in a path having avertical axis.
 4. An assembly for storing and recharging batteriescomprising:a plurality of carriages having respective support surfacesof a configuration to support batteries; conveyor means connected to thecarriages to translate the carriages across a predetermined path oftravel during storage, including support rods which pivotally supporteach carriage; connector means provided on each of the carriages forelectrically connecting the batteries to recharge them; and power meansfor providing a source of electricity to each connector means as theconveyor means translates the carriages during storage, including a pairof contact members on each support rod and a pair of distributorsextending along the predetermined path of travel and respectivelycontacting a contact member.
 5. The assembly as defined in claim 4wherein the conveyor means rotates the carriages in a path having avertical axis.
 6. A vehicular battery charging station comprising:anenclosed tower structure having doors at ground level for receiving ordelivering batteries therethrough; two pairs of rotors located insidesaid structure, one at a top end and the other at a bottom end of saidstructure, said rotors having horizontal shafts thereof journaled tosaid structure; driving means for rotating at least one of said shafts;a pair of conveyor means installed over said top and bottom rotors andcircling around said rotors; a plurality of rods disposed transverselyover said pair of conveyor means and attached to said conveyor means; acarriage suspended from each of said rods and free to swing aroundassociated rod, each of said carriages having the capacity of receivingbatteries thereon; a power source of electricity for charging saidbatteries; distributing means of electricity from said power source tosaid carriages, said distributing means disposed alongside the path ofsaid carriage rods and supplying electricity either continuously orintermittently during rotation of said conveyor means; and meansprovided on each of said carriages for electrically connecting saidelectricity distributing means with terminal posts on said batteries. 7.The vehicular battery charging station as defined in claim 6, whereinsaid bottom rotors are located beneath the ground level.
 8. Thevehicular battery charging station as defined in claim 6, wherein saiddistributing means of electricity includes a pair of continuous beltsdisposed outward and alongside the path of said carriage rods andmaintaining contact therewith.
 9. The assembly as defined in claim 4,wherein the support rods are hollow and power lead lines extend throughthe support rods to connect the batteries with the power means.
 10. Thevehicular battery charging station as defined in claim 6, wherein therods are hollow and the means provided on each of said carriages forelectrically connecting include power lead lines extending through thesupport rods to connect with terminal posts on said batteries.
 11. Thevehicular battery charging station as defined in claim 6, wherein thedistributing means is continuously supplying electricity during rotationof said conveyor means.